by Laurence
Boyce, cineuropa 05/07/2018KARLOVY VARY
2018: While Turkish director Ömür Atay’s family melodrama does not always fulfil
its early promise, there is plenty to admire about
it.

The Turkish-German-Bulgarian
co-production received its world premiere in Karlovy Vary’s
competition.

Turkish filmmaker Ömür
Atay’s Brothers
is a heady slice of familial melodrama that centres on the fractured
relationship between two brothers and the secrets of the past that threaten to
tear them apart.

After spending four
years in a detention centre, 17-year-old Yusuf (Yiğit Ege Yazar) returns home under the watchful eye of his
brother Ramazan (Caner Şahin). As
the reasons for Yusuf’s incarceration become increasingly clear – as well as the
true nature of the secrets at the heart of the family – Yusuf finds himself
facing a stark choice. Will he choose his family or morality?

Brothers
provides a drip-feed of information throughout its duration, unveiling a new
fact here or a startling revelation there. In this way, at least, the film
carries a certain amount of intrigue as it shifts character motivations and
perspectives. But as the last layers of the onion are peeled off, the movie
settles into character stereotypes and a plot that never strays too far from the
familiar.

Narrative contrivances begin to pile up, such as the
appearance of Yasmine, a woman whose convenient stranding at
the family-run truck stop leads her to become a confidante to the dark secrets
at the heart of the family.

But even when the plot becomes
predictable, the film is somewhat saved by its strong performances: in
particular, Yazar strikes a believable tone as young
Yusuf, as he brings some quiet understatement to the
role.But there’s an underlying sense of nerviness as
well, a dam fit to burst as the secrets that he has been holding to keep his
family together threaten to gush out at any moment.Şahin also has his moments as an ostensibly loving and caring
sibling, but there’s always a shadow of the domineering and fearful within him.

However, as the film wears on and the true nature of his actions begins
to be revealed, there is a slight drift into the role of stock villain, rather
than more of the nuance that was hinted at in the first half of the movie.

Atay
does a creditable job behind the camera, often juxtaposing wide-open vistas with
tight shots of dark rooms and confined spaces. There is often a sense of
claustrophobia, as the world itself seems to suffocate Yusuf
and his family as much as their secrets do. The family’s truck stop, where
Yusuf shares a cramped room with his brother, is also a clever
idea, placing Yusuf literally and figuratively far away from
the mother whose forgiveness he so desperately craves.

This debut film from the almost 60-year-old Atay does not
always fulfil its early promise, and anything for the movie beyond a festival
run looks unlikely. But with some confident direction and performances, there
are plenty of things to admire here.

Brothers
is a production by Turkey’s Atay Film, and was co-produced by Germany’s Off Film
and Fiction 2.0, and Bulgaria’s Chouchkov Brothers.